New Podcast: Dr. Ralph Hawkins shares his medical expertise and hands on experience diagnosing and treating Lyme disease
September 1st, 2020
Dr. Hawkins has been treating Lyme patients in Canada for many years, gaining a wealth of knowledge about the disease. He recounts his introduction to the shortcomings of Lyme disease testing in Canada while treating a patient with a history of multiple previous tick bites, many common symptoms of Lyme disease, but a negative Canadian Lyme test. Dr. Hawkins had the patient’s blood tested at a University Lab in New York, revealing test band patterns consistent with Lyme disease. He referred this patient to Infectious Diseases colleagues for treatment, but quickly found out that the diagnosis of late stage Lyme disease is not generally recognized by the Infectious Diseases community. He was advised to not only drop this case, but to avoid other similar cases.
Thanks Dr. Hawkins for doing this. It’s wonderful to have a clear well paced explanation of the flawed serology presently in use in Canada. Physicians are told that if your patient doesn’t pass the ELISA test then they certainly don’t have Lyme.